been horizontal, it may be suspected, from the considerable seaward slope
of the terraces, both up the valley of S. Cruz and up that of Coquimbo,
that the rising has been greater inland than nearer the coast. There is
reason to believe (Mr. Place in the "Quarterly Journal of Science" 1824
volume 17 page 42.), from the effects produced on the water-course of a
mill during the earthquake of 1822 in Chile, that the upheaval one mile
inland was nearly double, namely, between five and seven feet, to what it
was on the Pacific. We know, also, from the admirable researches of M.
Bravais, that in Scandinavia the ancient sea-beaches gently slope from the
interior mountain-ranges towards the coast, and that they are not parallel
one to the other ("Voyages de la Comm. du Nord" etc. also "Comptes Rendus"
October 1842.), showing that the proportional difference in the amount of
elevation on the coast and in the interior, varied at different periods.

COQUIMBO TO GUASCO.

In this distance of ninety miles, I found in almost every part marine
shells up to a height of apparently from two hundred to three hundred feet.
The desert plain near Choros is thus covered; it is bounded by the
escarpment of a higher plain, consisting of pale-coloured, earthy,
calcareous stone, like that of Coquimbo, with the same recent shells
embedded in it. In the valley of Chaneral, a similar bed occurs in which,
differently from that of Coquimbo, I observed many shells of the
Concholepas: near Guasco the same calcareous bed is likewise met with.

In the valley of Guasco, the step-formed terraces of gravel are displaced
in a more striking manner than at any other point. I followed the valley
for thirty-seven miles (as reckoned by the inhabitants) from the coast to
Ballenar; in nearly the whole of this distance, five grand terraces,
running at corresponding heights on both sides of the broad valley, are